British ISIS Mother Who Took 16-Month-Old Son To War-Torn Syria Regrets Her Decision
A British ISIS mother from Staffordshire who entered Islamic State controlled Syria last year along with her 16-month-old son soon became disillusioned with the fanatical ways of the Islamic group and fled back to the UK in desperation.
When Tareena Shakil took her son Zaheem to Syria last year, after telling her friends and parents she was going to Spain on vacation, she did not expect what she saw once she arrived in the Middle East.
Having soon realized that the picture ISIS portrayed on social media of life under them in Syria was a lie, the 25-year-old Muslim woman made a dangerous trip over the Turkish border on her way back to the UK.
Her father, Mohammed, has spoken out about the phone call he received from his desperate daughter, during which she described her shock at the “hell” of living under ISIS.
The Mirror reported that Mohammed told them that his daughter had spoken to him about life under ISIS, “There were bombs going off everywhere. I never felt safe. I was monitored by chiefs all the time. Women are treated like cattle, herded around and not allowed anywhere without a man,” she said.
When Shakil realized that ISIS chiefs were trying to marry her off, she feared for her and her son’s life and escaped to Turkey.
Describing her daring escape, Shakil explained that she broke into a house and stole her passport before tricking a taxi driver into driving her from Raqqa to the Turkish border. She claims she then ran a mile through the desert before climbing over a barbed wire fence to freedom.
The ISIS mother told her father, “I thought the guards were going to shoot me there and then. But I didn’t care if I lived or died. I just held on to Zaheem and thought ‘I have got to get over the barbed wire.’ When I got to the other side, I just couldn’t believe I was safe.'”
A family friend of Shakil told reporters, ‘The border guards didn’t fire for some reason – maybe because she was carrying her son. Her hands were hurt and her feet cut to ribbons climbing the fence.”
